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Carlo Condello, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology

Dr. Carlo Condello is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases (IND). He leads a team of scientists that develop new animal models and optical imaging methods to study protein misfolding diseases, prion biology, and neuroinflammation in vivo. Dr. Condello received his PhD in Neuroscience in 2011 from Northwestern University (Chicago, IL). His graduate work with Dr. Jaime Grutzendler focused on understanding the kinetics and toxicity of β-amyloid deposition and the role of microglia in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Following graduation, the lab moved to Yale University, where Dr. Condello completed a project related to his thesis as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2012, Dr. Condello joined the IND first as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Stanley Prusiner, then transitioned to a faculty member in 2015.

During his tenure at the IND, Dr. Condello has developed several novel optical-imaging tools including noninvasive in vivo methods employing a bioluminescent genetic reporter of astrocytosis or near-infrared amyloid binding dyes to monitor disease progression and therapeutic intervention in mouse models of AD, tauopathy, and prion disease. In collaboration with protein chemists, he has developed a new technique using confocal spectral imaging and environment-sensitive probes to decipher and catalog conformational variants (strains) of Aβ and tau prions in the brains of AD patients and transgenic rodent models, which may have implications for developing more informative molecular diagnostics and strain-specific therapeutics. Lastly, Dr. Condello’s newest work focuses on the role of microglia in the propagation of tau prions in mouse models of frontotemporal dementia using pharmacologic and genetic tools.